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Action ResearchSt Bernadettes School 2008-2009
What is the issue?
How can we accurately measure where our children are in terms of
the quality of theirwriting?How can we determine the next step for
individuals to improve their writing?
What is happening at present? At present childrens work is
assessed and evaluated according to indicators in theEnglish
Curriculum document. The descriptors are quite vague and
overlapping.We need to adopt a clear set of indicators which allow
us to accurately place a piece ofwriting at a certain stage and
identify the next steps to improvement.
Find academic background.Literacy Learning Progressions
(Draft)(NZCER) Assessment - Resource Bank.TKI Exemplars.Effective
Literacy Handbook.Dancing With the Pen
Decide on action.The staff of St Bernadettes collected baseline
writing samples. The samples were anunassisted recount.The samples
were then discussed at staff meetings, and consistency in
assessmentwere determined.Each students piece of writing was
individually assessed by the class teacher. Staffdesigned a
template for analysing the students work. (see appendix i)This
analysis involved an acknowledgement of the qualities of the
writing as well asidentifying gaps in the students work and
determining the next steps for thatparticular student.
Implement action.The first samples were taken and then assessed
against the indicators described in thedraft Literacy Learning
Progressions - 2007
At this stage of the project every pupil has their own
individual tracking sheet, (seeappendix ii)which shows progress
made in relation to chronological age. In additionto this a class
overview is kept (see appendix iii) which gives a clear record
ofprogress made by groups of students.The goal for this project was
to have children working at or above their stage in
writing expertise as described in the draft Literacy Learning
Progressions - 2007.A Milestone Report was presented to the Board
of Trustees at the end of 2008 and two
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subsequent ones in 2009.
Collect the data.Since beginning the project we have gathered 6
samples in total from each child. This
has been a major undertaking but very worthwhile. It is
satisfying for teachers andstudents to analyse the writing and look
for indicators and determine the nextdevelopment step.
Analysis of data.Teachers found this experience extremely
valuable, albeit a huge undertaking and verytime consuming.We found
that the focus on the individual learner, and in particular their
involvementin their own writing development was an extremely
significant factor in the success of
the project.
We found that the focus on the individual learner, and in
particular their involvementin their own writing development was an
extremely significant factor in the success ofthe project.The
school had aimed for 90% of students working at appropriate levels
as describedin the draft document. While we did not reach out aim
we were very proud of thelevels reached by the students and of our
own part in reaching the levels shown.We believe that this document
(Literacy Learning Progressions) is a worthwhileaccompaniment to
our writing assessment tool kit and a copy of this report will be
sentto the Ministry as part of their publication evaluation process
as promised in our initialStatement of Variance document.Our
determination is to develop this programme further in 2009-2010. We
will takeparticular note of the performance of Year 0 children, not
included in the statistics butincluded in the sample taking.
We will look also at the performance of the significant number
of students who have,and will continue to perform at levels beyond
those suggested in the LearningProgressions Document.
We are particularly pleased with the performance of our Maori
and Pacific students.
We are constantly aware of improving the statistical performance
of these groups andproud that their results compare very favourably
with the school body as a whole.
Publish your findings.All data gathered has been presented to
the board (see template appendix iv). Theinformation gathered is
used to communicate with children and parents/caregiversabout
future direction and development. Our determination is to develop
thisprogramme further in 2009-2010. We will take particular note of
the performance of
Year 0 children, not included in the statistics but included in
the sample taking
Action ResearchSt Bernadettes School
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Appendix i Analysis template
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